


Roomate/College AU

by sociallyawkward_fics



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fluff, Forgive me for how bad this is, Literally the first fanfic I wrote ever, M/M, Pre-Slash to Slash, The cheesiest cheese to ever cheese, This is really bad I'm sorry, i guess?, it's really cheesy okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7109749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sociallyawkward_fics/pseuds/sociallyawkward_fics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short ficlets set in a world where Dean and Castiel share an apartment while going to college. Originally posted on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Comfort of Disney

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is the first ever fanfic I wrote, and I wrote it literally almost a year ago. Please forgive me for how bad it is. You can find my writing tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com. I have no clue how to work this website please forgive me.

At first, he hadn’t wanted a roommate. But Castiel was a college student with bills to pay, so he posted an ad online. Later that week, a man named Dean Winchester replied. And, as luck would have it, they both went to the same college. Dean seemed like the perfect candidate.

Then, they moved in together. The two were practically opposites. Where Castiel was awkward, Dean was charismatic. Where Castiel was introverted, Dean was the biggest extrovert he’d ever known. Somehow, though, the two became the best of friends in no time. If you knew Dean Winchester, you knew Castiel Novak, and vice versa.

Now, here they were, a year later and still roommates and best friends. Dean had gone to bed a couple hours ago, saying he was still exhausted from his Physics class earlier that day.

“I’m sure that teacher is the devil,” Dean often told him.

Castiel, though, was still awake, letting his mind wander with the TV on in the background. His thoughts soon turned to Dean. For what felt like a while now, Castiel had been harboring a crush on his best friend, and he wasn’t sure what to do. As these thoughts plagued his mind, Dean stumbled out of his room, looking pale and sweaty.

“Are you-“ Castiel started.

“I’m fine,” Dean cut him off and made his way to the kitchen. He emerged with a glass of water, retreating to his room second later without a word.

Castiel frowned. Sure, it wasn’t uncommon for Dean to hide his feelings, but he looked like he’d needed some support. Castiel shrugged. He’d just ask Dean tomorrow after class.

* * *

 

  
The same exact thing kept happening night after night, until this had been going on for weeks. No matter how many times Castiel had tried to talk to him, Dean always shrugged off his questions. It hurt more than Castiel liked to admit.

Over the past year, Castiel liked to think that the two had gotten close. They were best friends, after all. They knew everything about each other, and there was never something going on with one that the other didn’t know about. Dean shutting him out now really hurt. Sure, Dean had a hard exterior, but the man underneath that felt everything so deeply it was shocking that they were the same person. There was something wrong with Dean, and Castiel was determined to get to the bottom of it.

That night, like every other, Dean came out of his room at some ungodly hour. And that night, like every other, Castiel was up at said hour watching TV. Dean shuffled into the kitchen, and Castiel followed behind, standing in the doorway and blocking Dean’s exit.

“C’mon, Cas, let me out,” Dean grumbled. “It’s late and I want to go back to sleep.”

“No,” Castiel said angrily, “not until you tell me what’s wrong.

Dean sighed. “Cas-“

“No. Dean Winchester, you will tell me what’s wrong or so help me-“

“Nightmares,” Dean mumbled.

Castiel paused, his angry expression shifting into one of surprise. He hadn’t expected Dean to relent so quickly. “What?”

“I’ve been having nightmares.”

“I’m sorry, Dean.” Castiel didn’t know what to say.  Castiel hoped this would be one of the rare moments Dean allowed himself comfort. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

But Dean just shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing, anyway.” Dean’s walls were already coming back up. Castiel had to act fast.

He grabbed Dean’s hand, trying to ignore the warmth that spread through him at the touch, and pulled him into the living room. Castiel then shoved Dean onto the couch and started digging through their DVD collection.

“Cas? What are you doing?”

“We are going to watch Disney movies until we pass out.” Castiel turned around, _The Little Mermaid_ in hand, and looked at Dean. He had a small smile on his face and the twinkle that had been absent for so long had returned to his eye. The sight made Castiel’s heart skip a beat.

“Alright,” Dean said. “But no princess movies.”

Castiel rolled his eyes and put the movie back. “Fine.”

The two made it through _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ and _Treasure Planet_ before falling asleep during _Beauty and the Beast_ (“Dammit, Cas, I said no princess movies!” “Please, Dean? Just one?”).

Castiel woke up the next morning with a warmth pressed against his side. He stayed there for a moment, perfectly content to spend the whole day just like that, before finally peeling his eyes open. He was greeted with the movie menu of _Beauty and the Beast_ and Dean pressed up against his side.

Castiel froze; the only noise in the apartment his beating heart. Suddenly afraid that the pounding of it would wake Dean, he quickly stood up, leaving Dean alone on the couch. He was glad that Dean wasn’t awake to see his blush. Tossing a blanket over Dean’s sleeping form, he made his way to the kitchen. Might as well make breakfast while he’s up.

Forcing his blush down, Castiel knew that hiding his attraction to Dean was only bound to become that much harder.


	2. The Comfort of Disney -Dean's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before: first fanfic, written a year ago. It's old and bad. Enjoy. Find my writing blog at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com

_Dean’s eyes opened to flames licking the bedsheets. He panicked, trying to scramble away, the heat from the fire already burning his skin. Suddenly, his thoughts turned to another.  
_

_“Cas,” he shouted. “Cas! Are you okay?!”  
_

_“Dean! Help!” Was the reply he got.  
_

_Dean leapt over the flames and threw his door open. “Cas!” He screamed. “Where are you?!”  
_

_This time, Dean received no response. He rushed into the living room, hoping that’s where Cas was. He saw Cas’s foot peeking out from behind the burning couch, and his heart jumped into his throat. He stepped closer.  
_

_Cas was on the ground, unconscious, covered in soot, and clothes burning. Even his hair was beginning to smoke.  
_

_“Cas! No!”_

Dean’s eyes shot open as he bolted upright in his bead, gasping and sweaty. He knew he wasn’t going to fall back asleep anytime soon, so he got up and made his way to the kitchen for some water, telling Cas he was fine when he started to ask.

Dean knew where the fear stemmed from. When he was four years old, Dean’s house caught on fire. His dad had shoved him out the door with a six-month-old Sammy in his arms, promising Dean that he would get his mom out safe. Both his parents made it out alive, but just because there were no deaths didn’t make it less traumatic.

Dean had frequent nightmares about that night. In each one, someone he cared about was always consumed by flames. This nightmare was different, though. This time it wasn’t Sam, or Bobby, or even his parents. This time it was Cas.

Dean took his glass of water and went back to his room. Collapsing onto the bed, he groaned into his pillow. Sure, his feelings for Cas were a bit stronger than the average friendship, but that didn’t really matter all that much, did it?

Okay, it did.

* * *

 

The nightmares continued for weeks. Every single night he watched Cas burn and was helpless to stop it. Dean was so used to it, it was almost a routine. Except that night, something changed. Dean had turned around to exit the kitchen, but Cas stood there blocking the doorway.

“C’mon, Cas, let me out,” Dean said. “It’s late and I want to go back to sleep.

“No.” Dean could hear the anger and hurt in Cas’s voice, “not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Dean let out a sigh of resignation. “Cas-“

“No. Dean Winchester you will tell me what’s wrong or so help me-“

Dean gave up, mumbling out, “Nightmares.”

He watched as Cas’s expression shifted from anger to shock and surprise. “What?”

“I’ve been having nightmares.” Dean slowly started building up his walls again, wanting nothing more than to retreat into his room.

“I’m sorry, Dean. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Dean shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing.”

There was a moment of silence and then, out of nowhere, Cas grabbed Dean’s hand. He relished in the warmth that blossomed in his chest at the touch until he was shoved onto the couch. Cas was digging through their DVDs.

“Cas? What are you doing?”

“We are going to watch Disney movies until we pass out.”

That brought a smile to Dean’s face. “Alright. But no princess movies.”  
His grin widened at Cas’s eye roll. “Fine.”

They made it through two movies until Cas finally convinced him to watch a princess movie (he blamed on how tired he was). When Dean turned to ask him a question, he saw that Cas was already fast asleep. He smiled softly and laid his own head back against the couch to let sleep claim him as well.

There were no nightmares that night.


	3. Stormy Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, please forgive me for the horrendous writer I was a year ago. Thank you. Find my writing blog at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com.

Thunder clapped and rain pounded as Dean made his way back to his apartment that night. It had started pouring during his last class of the day, and he forgot an umbrella. He didn’t even have his car since he and Cas had decided to walk to school together that morning. Cas was probably already home, dry and warm, while Dean was stuck trudging through the mud.

The rain began to pour down harder, and Dean sighed in defeat as he continued on his way home.

* * *

The lighting raced across the sky, a boom of thunder coming seconds later. Castiel jumped and burrowed deeper into his blanket cocoon. He shivered and prayed that the storm would end soon.

His fear of storms stretched back to the first grade. He had been walking home from school when a huge storm hit. The rain had been coming down so hard and fast that he could no longer see where he was going, and he quickly became lost. He wasn’t found until his mother drove out looking for him after work nearly two hours later. The experience traumatized him, and he had been afraid of storms ever since.

This was one of the few things Castiel had never told Dean. He didn’t want his best friend/crush to think less of him for it, so for every storm in the past he had locked himself in his room until it was over.

A particularly loud crash of thunder made him whimper and pull the blanket tighter over his head.

“Cas?! Are you okay?”

The voice startled Castiel, and he whipped the blanket off his head. Terrified blue met compassionate green and the dam broke.

“Dean,” Castiel said, reaching out a shaking hand. “Dean, please!” He no longer cared if he looked weak, he needed the comfort.

Dean immediately grabbed his hand and sat next to him. Castiel, without thinking, curled into Dean’s side and wrapped his arms around his waist. Dean was cold and wet, and that woke Castiel up enough to wrap them both in his blanket.

Now his heart was racing for a whole different reason.

* * *

Dean wasn’t even sure how the whole thing had happened, but now he and Cas were cuddling on the couch. Eventually, though, he relaxed and started rubbing Cas’s back. But his wet clothes started to get annoying, and his jeans begun to chafe. 

“Cas,” he mumbled.

“Hmm?” Cas hummed against his chest and looked up.

“I really gotta get out of these clothes, man. Do you think you’ll be okay while I go do that?”

Cas didn’t say anything, he only nodded and released Dean, burrowing back into his damp blanket after he got up.

Dean went into his room and changed as quickly as possible, swapping his damp clothes for an old T-shirt and sweatpants. He almost left before he remembered that he got Cas’s blanket all wet, so he grabbed a new one out of his closet. Plus this one was bigger, warmer, _and_ softer.

He made it back to the couch just as another thunderclap sounded, and he saw Cas shaking underneath the blanket. He wasted no time in resuming their previous position and covered them with the new blanket, tossing the damp one somewhere near the hallway.

Dean carded his hand through Cas’s hair in what must’ve been a soothing motion, because the other man relaxed against him completely. He tried hard to ignore how hard his heart was beating at the close proximity, and he hoped that Cas wouldn’t notice.

Within the next half hour, the storm cleared up considerably, and Dean decided to ask the question that had been bugging him since he got home.

“Cas?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you afraid of storms?”

* * *

Castiel stiffened against Dean, and once again his heart was pounding in fear instead of infatuation. “You say that as if you’ve known for a while.”

“I, uh, I kinda have. The way you always locked yourself in your room when they happened was kind of a giveaway.” 

Castiel sighed, relaxing against Dean once again, and told him where the fear came from.

Dean was quiet for a few minutes after. “Kind of like my thing with fire, then?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

They fell into silence after that, the soft pitter-patter of rain soon lulling them both to sleep.

Castiel’s last conscious thought was, _Maybe if all storms were spent like this, they wouldn’t be so bad anymore._


	4. Snow Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is bad and cheesy. My writing blog is at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com.

It was the first day of winter break, and Castiel couldn’t be more grateful. Finals had taken a huge toll on both him and Dean. Late night and early morning study sessions turned to all-nighters more often than not, and he knew that both of them were more than ready for this break.  


Castiel had intended to sleep in, but when the sizzle and pop of bacon roused him, he couldn’t complain. He dragged himself out of bed and into the living room, the smell of breakfast joining the sounds. He lied down on the couch and waited for Dean to notice him, eventually falling back asleep.

* * *

Dean emerged from the kitchen, surprised that Cas hadn’t woken up yet. The second he made it to the living room, he saw why. Cas had gotten up, only to fall back asleep on the couch. Dean chuckled.  With his rumpled bee pajamas and bed head, he looked kind of adorable. Not that Dean would ever admit that out loud.  


He knelt down next to the couch and started to lightly shake Cas.  


“Cas, hey buddy,” he said quietly. “It’s time to get up.”  


Eventually, Cas groaned and rolled to his side. He peeled his eyes open and blinked blearily at Dean.  


“Whaaaat?” He whined.  


Dean chuckled. “C’mon. If you get up and eat right now, we can play in the snow later.”  


Suddenly, Cas was wide awake, and he raced into the kitchen as quickly as possible. Dean shook his head fondly and followed behind.

* * *

Castiel had grown up in California, so he hadn’t seen much snow in his life. When he moved away for college, he was fascinated by the fluffy white flakes that fell that winter. He always felt a sense of childlike joy whenever he walked outside to find the world blanketed in white.  


Castiel inhaled his breakfast and ran to his room to change, calling a “Hurry up, Dean!” over his shoulder. He threw on some winter clothes as fast as he could and ran to the living room to wait for Dean.  


Five long minutes later, Dean emerged from his room. Castiel, without thinking, grabbed Dean’s gloved hand in his own and ran out the door. He dragged dean down the stairs because the elevator was too slow for his tastes, and waved at the doorman as they run past.  


The second they’re outside, Castiel drops Dean’s hand and flops back into a snow drift.  


Dean looked at him and laughed. “I think your obsession with snow is becoming a problem, Cas,” he teased. “Do we need to have an intervention?”  


Castiel simply stuck his tongue out at Dean and started to make a snow angel. He smiled as Dean turned his back, an idea popping into his head.

* * *

Moments after Dean turned his back on Cas, something cold and wet smacked into the back of his head. Dean whipped around, ready to attack, but Cas had already vanished.  


He grinned. “Oh, Ca-as~! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”  


Another snowball hit him, this time in the center of his back. Once again, he turned in that direction, only to find that there was no one there.  


“Dammit, Cas! How are you so fast?”  


A muffled laugh sounded to his right and he hears footsteps crunching in the snow. Dean’s grin widened. The footsteps grew closer, and Dean pounced, tackling Cas to the ground and pinning him.  


For a few moments, they’re both to busy laughing to realize their position, but they soon calmed down and opened their eyes. Blue met green and the tension between then suddenly snapped.  


Dean leaned down as Cas leaned up and their lips met in a chaste kiss that quickly became something deeper.  


The two stayed like that until it became too cold to bear, and then they returned to their apartment for hot chocolate and cuddling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really did consider deleting this work from my tumblr and not posting it here. I thought it was terrible, I wrote it a year ago and honestly, while I was proud of it at the time, I've come to hate it. I reread a few sentences of the first chapter and wanted to erase it from existence. But, I didn't. I want to be able to come back to this someday, look at it, and go "yes, it's bad, but look how far I've come." Someday, when I'm proud of my writing and believe it to be good, I want to look back on this and see the progress. I want to point other people toward this so they can see the progress as well, and give them hope if they're angry with their writing like I am. For now, I will continue writing. I will get better. And I will look back at this and say "Look where I am now," and be proud of myself. 
> 
> For now, though, thanks for reading! I know it's not the best, and I'm sorry if you hated it. Drop a comment with some constructive criticism, or give me some at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com? I would really appreciate it! thank you, and I love all of you who have read this! (I was gonna put a little <3 here, but that seemed really cheesy and gross)


End file.
